Bring the entire family out to the Estrella Warbird Museum on Sunday, May 3, from noon to 4 p.m. to enjoy a day filled with sunshine and healthy offerings at the Family Health Fair, presented by the Kayla Peach Memorial Foundation and SafeLaunch. The event will have volunteers from an assortment of local businesses and organizations sharing information, games, and entertainment from their booths nestled between the historical warbirds on the museum site.

The purpose of the Family Health Fair, according to event organizers, is to educate parents and their children on the many healthy options available to families in and around Paso Robles and the outlying areas. In what they hope to be an annual event, organizers have gathered together a wide variety of businesses and local presenters to bring along an assortment of games, entertainment, crafts, and entertainment for children of all ages.

In an effort to share their powerful message with youth, the founders of SafeLaunch, an addiction prevention organization, will be bringing their “Flight Above Addiction” program to the museum during the Family Health Fair. Using their proven method of engaging youth in an interactive, educational activity, co-founders Ron Cuff and Janet Rowse will encourage youth in attendance to painting their dreams for a healthy future onto a Cessna Skyline.

“We want the kids to envision a future free from the disease of addiction, and we encourage them to use the Cessna plane and some paints and then we watch as they create their masterpiece,” says Cuff, explaining that the Cessna is a focal point for SafeLaunch. “Our Flights Above Addiction program brings awareness to the vulnerability of young people to addiction.”

“With a science-based approach to prevention, SafeLaunch invites youth to focus on the beauty of life and the many ways that they can achieve a natural high,” says Rowse. “We encourage everyone to learn the facts about addiction and to do everything possible to stop this preventable disease where it starts 90 percent of the time – with adolescent exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.”

Children must be accompanied by an adult to attend the Family Health Fair and participate in activities, including the painting of the SafeLaunch plane. Attendees under the age of 18 will receive a raffle ticket for a free scenic flight, with additional raffle tickets for children and adults available for purchase. The Estrella Warbird Museum is located at 4251 Dry Creek Road. Go to www.ewarbirds.org for information on additional programs and features of the museum.

The event is co-produced by the Kayla Peach Memorial Foundation (find more info at www.kaylapeachmemorialfoundation.org) whose mission is to raise awareness about the silent but very real epidemic of drug and alcohol related deaths among our children, and SafeLaunch (find more info at www.safelaunch.org) whose mission is to prevent and delay early first exposure to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. A limited amount of booth space may still be available; send an email to above address for more information. Contact Donna Kelley for further information at (805) 712- 2385 or kpmf@kaylapeachmemorialfoundation.com.

The Partnership for Drug Free Kids, one of the largest substance abuse prevention nonprofits in the country, has created a phone app that provides accurate information about current drugs of abuse. SafeLaunch encourages all adults to take responsibility for protecting youth from the preventable brain disease of addiction. Downloading this app to your phone will equip you with the knowledge to protect youth.

We express our condolences to every parent who has gone through the pain of addiction, overdose, and death of a child. These tragedies will be far less frequent when every adult takes responsibility for protecting everyone’s child from early drug and alcohol exposure. We don’t let children run into the street. Don’t let one be exposed to intoxicants. Until there is a test for immunity from addiction, the only option is to protect all children from exposure.

Know that brains are still developing until age 25; know that growing brains learn chemical dependency better than fully mature brains.

Watch Kelly’s heartbreaking story, and then light a candle for the other 3,000 people (somebody’s child) who will lose their life to addiction this month.